The Journey of 'Little Magician'

Leo Messi , the Argentinean star won his record breaking sixth Balon d’Or award(best player of the year award).He is already considered the greatest ever to play the game and his sixth balon D’Or takes him one step ahead of his arch-rival Cristiano Ronaldo.Talking about his style of play he dribbles past defenders using his agility and body fakes, although not the strongest with right foot his left foot shooting prove to be to much for his opposition. His freeckicks have aged like wine ,getting better every year.

            Although it has not been a smooth road for him as a footballer. Coming from Argentina a ten year old Messi was impressive in his days at Old Newell Boys. But, deficiency in growth harmones  at age of 12 was a threat for his footballing career. After couple of trails he agreed to move to Barcelona at 13 after they agreed to pay for the full expenses of his treatment. In Barcelona, he found it hard to settle as he was  shy and tiny than the other players. He was bullied initially but gained respect quickly after impressing everyone with his game.His progress surprised everyone and within couple of years he started playing regularily for Barcelona B Team. Once

while playing in a practice match against the senior team Brazilian star Ronaldinho was so impressed by his style  that he almost forced his manager Rijkard to get him into the main team. So,gradually he was shifted into the main squad and at mere age of 17 he became the youngest Barcelona player to play a competitive game. He quickly became fan favourite with his small cameos , he even scored a hattrick against Spanish Giants Real Madrid at the age of 19, but he still was physically weak and was quiet injury prone in his initial years at Barcelona. Those injuries started to hamper his performances. In 2007, he took a bold step and completely changed his eating habits and followed a strict diet plan to avoid injuries. The result was seen immediately he had 3 injury free season and finished runner up for 2 consecutive years behind Kaka and Cristiano. After the departure of ronaldinho and Samuel Eto messi had to be the Main man for Barcelona as he awarded the NO.10 jersey.

His game under new manager Pep Guardiola reached new heights and From that year he didn’t disappoint as he stepped on another gear and scored 40 + goals that season. He became the youngest winner of Balon D’or award and won it 4 years on trot.2012 was a record-breaking season for him, he scored an astonishing  91 goals in a single year and no player has achieved this feat in top 5 European leagues. Although his form didn’t dipped but Barca’s  over reliance on messi started to become a problem and oppositions tried to exploit that which led to domination of Cristiano

Ronaldo and messi

Ronaldo and Real Madrid at world stage.

But with the help of Luis suarez and Neymar Jr he formed a deadly trio and Barca ended up winning all the trophies in 2015 season.

The famous MSN 

              

 His International Career is considered a failure by many. But it is really harsh on him.

He won the Olympics Gold medal at 2004 but has failed to win his side any major international trophies. He had carried his team to 3 consecutive finals (World cup 2014, Copa America 2015 and 2016)  but couldn’t win any . Although he was adjudged the player of the tournament at FIFA 2014 world cup. Today he continues to be talisman of Barcelona, his career is already a legendary. At 32 He thinks he still has a handful of  years in him and we as football fans hope he keeps delivering his majestic performances for years to come.

Rugved Joshi